Model railroading is a growing industry, and has become more high-tech in recent years. The locomotives and engines include solid state electric circuits that include contact roller pickups on their underside that rest on the track rails. The track rails are made of steel, brass, or nickel-silver, and are energized with a variable voltage and electric current supplied by a power source and transformer. One rail is energized to a first, positive or higher voltage. Another rail is energized to a second, grounded, negative or lower voltage. Nonconductive or insulated cross ties join the rails and maintain them a desired uniform distance apart. The metal wheels and contact rollers of the engines must pick up the voltage differential between the rails to receive a corresponding electric current from the track. Many accessory cars have lights and acoustic speakers that are also powered by the voltage differential and electric current received from the track rails. Good electrical contact or communication between the contacts and wheels of the engine and accessory cars with the track rails is required. The cleaner the track rails, the better and smoother the operation of the engines, cars and train.
A problem with model railroad layouts is that the track becomes dirty from day-to-day operation on a typical track layout. Dirt, grease, grime and other debris can coat the surfaces of the track rails and disrupt or inhibit good electrical communication between the track rails and the contacts and wheels of the locomotives, engines, and accessory cars. All purpose cleaners, such as Goo Gone™ cleaning and degreasing preparation, applied by hand with a cloth rag work well to clean the track rails. However, due to the size and complexity of some layouts, it is difficult to hand clean the entire layout. For example, it is nearly impossible to hand clean the track extending through a tunnel or in remote or otherwise hard-to-reach areas. A few conventional track-cleaning car designs have been developed to travel around the layout and clean the track rails.
A problem with conventional model railroad track cleaning cars is that they do not clean the track rails as well as they allege. These cars tend to clean only the outline or footprint of the mid section of the car, and miss the outermost rail on curved sections of track. The Lionel #3927 track cleaning car features a single, flat, disc shaped pad that spins across the tops of the three O-gage rails. A motor spins the horizontal pad about a vertical axis perpendicular to the rails. The center or spin axis of pad is generally located over the center rail of the track when the 3927 unit is traveling along straight track. While the entire surface area of the spinning pad engages the center rail, only a relatively small outer or perimeter area engages the two outer rails. The front-to-rear wheel base of the unit is relatively short so that at least some small portion of the single spinning pad continues to engage the outermost rail when traveling along curved track. The outer perimeter of the pad quickly becomes dirty, worn and less effective for cleaning, particularly relative to the large middle area of the pad. As the outer track rails must be cleaned to obtain good electrical communication with the wheels, the spinning pad requires frequent cleaning and replacement. Yet, OEM replacement cleaning pads for the 3927 unit are expensive, and are not available in hobby or hardware stores. The unit also includes a pad that follows behind, and a container of cleaning fluid. The self-propelled 3927 unit is expensive, and the fluid tends to leak onto the track.
The CMX Clean Machine track cleaning car has a tank car design with lower horizontal cleaning pads. The tank of the car holds cleaning fluid that is dispensed to its cleaning pads. The flat pads are stationarily fixed to the main body of the tank car, and only clean the tops of the rails. The track rails form wear lines into the stationary pads so that they wear out quickly and need to be replaced frequently. Replacement pads can only be purchased through the OEM and are not available in hobby or hardware stores. The CMX model is also expensive, and tends to leak too much fluid onto the pads.
The Trackman 0-2000 track cleaning car is similar to the CMX car in several respects. The Trackman 0-2000 has stationary pads that only clean the tops of the rails. The car includes an alignment mechanism that positions the pads over the track rails when traveling along curved track. The car is expensive, and replacement pads are only available through the OEM. The Tri-Ang-R344 track cleaning car has a fuzzy pad that it drags across the rails, and likewise only cleans the top of the track. This car is manufactured in Great Britain, and obtaining replacement pads is difficult.
The Aztec Marauder track cleaning car includes one hard abrasive cratex roller that it asserts grinds or scrubs corrosion from the top of the rails, and one hard abrasive canvas-covered roller that it asserts mops up debris. The outer surface of each roller is not generally compressible so that they have a set outside diameter of about ¾ inch. The rollers are so hard that they do not engage the sides of the rails, but are limited to engaging the flat top or apex of the rails. The floating rollers are not mounted on an axle. Each floating roller is held by a hard plastic and metal carriage. The lightweight rollers are not pushed down into engagement with the rails other than by their own weight. The carriage holds the rollers substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the car and rails but at a slight two degree angle. The car is easily pulled along the track with the same amount of force as regular car (e.g., box car, hopper car, freight car) having no track cleaning mechanism. The car does not clean track very well. The thin canvas shell has very limited absorption capability, and there is virtually no friction between the rollers and the rails. The rollers do not engage and clean the outermost rail on sharply curved sections or pieces of track such as O-27, O-31 and O-36 inch curved track. A magnet bar is located behind each roller to remove abrasive shavings and metal objects from the track. Replacement rollers are expensive.
A problem with track cleaning cars is that they can damage accessory track. Most layouts include a variety of conventional accessory track such as switches, crossovers, road crossings and decouplers. These accessory track include raised portions or structures close to or adjacent the rails. While the rails are metal, many of these structures are made of plastic and are more easily abraded or ground down. Electro-magnetic decouplers include a widened middle rail with structure for securing the electrically activated magnet. Track cleaning cars that grind or sand the tops of the rails can inadvertently grind or sand these raised portions or structures, which can damage the accessory track by giving them a disfigured appearance or degrading their performance.
Another problem with track cleaning cars is that they can cause a derailment or decoupling as they travel along the layout. By their very nature, track cleaning cars must come in contact with the track rails. Yet, cars with rigid surfaces that engage or come close to the rails can inadvertently strike raised portions or structures of accessory track adjacent the rails. This contact can jerk and derail the train. Track cleaning cars that grind or sand the tops of the rails are also problematic. When the train is traveling along a curved section of track, the grinders disengage from the outermost rail and tend to drop down below the top of that rail. Then, when the train returns to a straight section of track, the grinder or sander pushes against the side of the outermost rail until it jerks or jumps back onto the top of the rail. This jerking or jumping is a distraction and can cause one or more cars to derail or decouple.
The present invention is intended to solve these and other problems.